You’ve heard Daniels’ comments by now, accusing teachers of “anything-goes politics” and “creative use of illegal ... public resources” to undercut Bennett with emails sent on teaching time. And about why Hoosier voters turned on Bennett? Daniels told his audience: “Despite the great progress that’s been made in states like ours, the forces of reaction never quit. The last twitch of the dinosaur’s tail can still kill you, and that’s what happened.”

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Strong words. Loaded words. And glaring words, coming a week after Daniels implied that the losers in the fight over the Interstate 69 extension in southern Indiana were “bellyachers.” (Daniels later wrote an apology published in The Indianapolis Star.)

With the bellyaching shoe on the other foot, Daniels’ words riled plenty of people who thought the voices that mattered were those voters who chose Democrat Glenda Ritz over Bennett.

But set that aside for a second. Did Daniels’ bitterness over perceived paleontological tendencies among the Hoosier electorate miss a point closer to home about Bennett? Was there perhaps a lesson to learn courtesy of the withering, deadpan stare of K-State football coach Bill Snyder?

Beginning to end, finish the play, son.

Much has been made about what Ritz’s unlikely win means or doesn’t mean — and how she assembled votes through a low-budget, social media approach now being hailed as a study in super-slick. Not as much has been made about the shoo-in air Bennett carried into his re-election bid.

And who could blame him? Ritz was relatively late to the race. She didn’t have apparent big-time support, even from her party. Bennett had a money advantage of $1.6 million to $200,000. And few people were paying attention. (Seriously, can you name planks from Ritz’s platform, beyond the fact that she was not Tony Bennett? Didn’t think so.) And Bennett was out discussing education reform for the next year as a done deal, business as usual. He was barely acknowledging Ritz — even after a Howey/DePauw Indiana Battleground Poll put her 4 percentage points off the lead with a week left in the campaign.

He was on the kind of cruise control only sure winners get to push. Problem was ... well, you know how this story ends.

The amazing part for Bennett — and everyone else running for office in Indiana — was that he had a warning light about the danger of incumbency taken for granted as near as the May primary.

Sen. Dick Lugar sat on his heels, too, until it became apparent that the grass-roots work Richard Mourdock had done at all of those Lincoln Day dinners was paying off. Lugar lost in the GOP primary after six terms, a living legend in the U.S. Senate. Why he lost was a complicated mix of longevity, his age, the rise of the tea party and even the fact that he no longer owned a home in Indiana after all of that time in Washington, D.C. But one thing was clear: He didn’t take Mourdock seriously early. And when he came looking for help, he didn’t have the allies who felt the need to pull him to safety.

As for Bennett, why didn’t he engage Ritz? Maybe he knew that the cold shoulder he admitted he received during some school visits might translate during the campaign. Maybe he knew his self-assured demeanor wasn’t playing well after the past four years. Maybe he just figured he would sail through and couldn’t be bothered to look bothered.

Either way, his allies, those for stout education reform, weren’t there in great enough numbers to pull him to safety. And the governor, he’s still not over it.

The lesson here isn’t sour grapes or entitlement lost or anything else that comes after the score tips another guy’s way on Election Day.

The lesson is: There’s no cruise control any more. You have to play it through.